The Den
by Hunting-Raven
Summary: Naruto stumbled upon a secrete underground home when the orphanage kicked him out. The Den, it was called. However, it was the gifts inside and the power that unlocks inside Naruto that makes all the difference in the Shinobi world.


**Chapter 1**

_**The Beginning**_

Naruto huddled under his small ragged blankets. Clutching tightly to a small stuffed fox, just as dirty, worn, and beaten as himself, Naruto was awaiting the inevitable. Locked away in his cold wet room, Naruto looked up from the floor towards the window a few feet away. The blonde boy wasn't allowed a bed by his Wardens in the orphanage, he wasn't allowed anything besides his stuffed fox and torn scraps of cloth he called a blanket. Meals he had to serve himself. Eating last, scrapping from the bottom of the day before pans. When he got his hands on bread, it was always stale and blotches of it a sickly green covered it. His room was the farthest away from all the other kids, and he was glad for that. Nevertheless, it also meant that none came to get him when parents came to take come a new son or daughter. The boy's clothes were torn and dirty. Those clothes had never washed in their life. The shirt was cut out and made into a long sleeved shirt from a burlap sack. His cloth pants were a size too big and had to be tied on with some rope.

Naruto looked up. Footsteps rang hard in his ears. Naruto curled into a ball where he was. He knew what was coming. Just as the day before, and the day before that. Just like every other day in his miserable life. The warden who came was always the man, not the wife because she tormented him emotionally and left the physical things to her husband. There was a loud bang as the door was thrown open, then another one, as it was slammed shut.

Then, there was pain. Naruto was lifted up by his collar and thrown to the other side of the room.

"Hello again demon it's good to see you. I hoped you missed me because I sure missed you." His voice was cold, and sickeningly sweet. Naruto said nothing. Clutching his toy closer he tried to halt his tears, but they fell anyway.

"Crying are we? HA! I though demons were the strongest! I should teach you what happens to weak demons." He snarled. A large hairy hand reached down and tore the small fox away. Naruto looked up broken, blue eyes streaming tears.

"Please don't hurt him! Mr. Fox hasn't hurt anyone!" Naruto wailed, desperately getting up and reaching for his toy. However, the man's hand came down and grabbed his neck. The hand choked him, fingers burrowing into skin, causing blood to start to drip.

"He hasn't you say! HE hasn't. You were the one to kill my son! You killed my sister and parents! Let's see how you like your toy taken fro you!" The man snapped, throwing Naruto to the ground. His large foot came down on the 6 year old, repeatedly. The sickening snap of ribs filled the room. Naruto coughed, dark red and sticky, his mouth started to drip blood. Naruto cracked his eyes open, and cried inside at what he saw next.

The man had taken a lighter from his pocket and set fire to the small toy. First the fur caught and sprang to like as it was dropped onto the floor. Quickly fire started to consume it, but even in the pain he was in, Naruto rolled over and snatched it. Holding the animal close and squishing it, he managed to put out the fire after it had burned his chest a bit. Leaving a scorched hole in his only shirt.

"Figures that a demon would want to crush the hopes of innocent people, and deny them their rights of revenge. You just hate justice don't you demon?" the man snapped as he started to walk out of the room.

For the rest of the night Naruto lay on the floor, weak and in pain, holding his ruined and burned friend as he cried. He wanted to stay in his room and rest, but first thing in the morning, the man and his wife came. Yelling and screaming at him. Naruto could smell the alcohol on them He was taken and thrown out his window into the cold ally. He was lucky it was a room one the ground floor. Naruto lay there, in that ally for 2 days. Hunger ate away at him but it was nothing new. He simply lay there and rested until he could get up, and walk away. Naruto never looked back as he left the nightmare, knowing he was walking into an even bigger one.

(2 Weeks Later)

Naruto sneezed, he must have been coming over with a cold. His new home wasn't fancy or nice. It wasn't even in a building. By some twist of luck he had found the hidden entrance to a underground hideaway 3 days before. He had been living under garbage bins and and the like before, eating peoples thrown away scraps. The entrance wasn't that big, so the place was probably made by some Genin or young thieves, but an adult could probably squeeze in. It was small and dark, but it worked. It could pass as a small hut in size. There was a hole lifting up into a warehouse above him, so his home didn't fill with air when he started fires- fires which he managed to build with a small box of matches he found. But the matches started to go fast, until he learned how to craft one without their aid.

As for gear in his home, Naruto has struck gold. There was a futon for a bed, and some old blankets. That in itself was grand. But there was also an old wooden chest. Inside was a few sets of clothes, all in which where way to big for him, but in a while he'd grow. There was also a short sword, about a foot or two long and narrow in a leather sheath. The previous owner must have loved it because it wasn't in too bad a shape. A little bit rusted but it was still good. A small dagger, also in a sheath, about 6 throwing knives, some ninja wire and a ton of old books. Naruto loved the books most of all, cause it brought a bit of joy into his life when he wasn't busy trying to survive.

When he had been younger, around 4, a man with what looked to be auburn hair had come and taught him how to read. His white badger mask identified him as what Naruto had come to learn was an Anbu. The 'Anbu' was surprised to discover that Naruto had a photographic memory when it came to things he read. His friend had often called him a young genius, as he soaked up knowledge like a sponge. He was the closest thing to a family he had. Naruto called him Shakei-san, and he in turn was called Shatei-kun. Sadly he had left after a year or so. Which meant young Naruto was alone in his eternal nightmare.

He hadn't looked at the books yet, beyond glancing at their covers. But he figured he could stand it tonight. The boy had gotten lucky today, and managed to snag an apple along with a fish from the local venders. He discovered that a lot of the venders didn't notice if he stole some things well they were setting up early in the morning.

So in the end the small boy sat there, roasting his catch over the fire and nibbling on his apple. Naruto reached over and picked up the firsts book in his stack.

"The Den" was it's title, there was no name for an author. Instead it was a small dark leather book with silver writing on the cover, and thick with crisp old pages that gave off a distinct smell. He opened the cover and was surprised to see an old yellowing envelope. Reaching down he snatched it with his small fingers and looked it over. Opening it carefully he removed some frail paper and began to read.

_Dear Reader,_

_You must be one lucky son of a gun to be reading this right now. I've lived in this little home of mine, which your probably in right now or stole this from, for maybe 3 years. Not a single soul has ever found it. Except for you. Welcome to __**The Den**__. The book in which I've placed this letter is my journal. There are 3 other books, but they more then just my personal notes.  
In this I give my life story. To you, who I hope shall read. In return for granting me this, I give you my home, The Den, the blade and my gear, clothes, a bed, and the books. Those books can not be found in any library. These books have the following subject written in them, my taijutsu style is in the brown book, which also includes how to use my blade, or yours as my blade is just a plain one, my genjutsu in the small red-ish brown one. All my ninjutsu are in the black one. You may be wondering why in the world you would care bout my history or my styles. Truth is you don't. I'm not famous, I didn't want to be. Truth be told, I'm an outlaw. I traveled all around learning from my family. I then lived in Konoha for a while acting as one of their ninja. However I did some things they disagreed with and they banished me. Never the less I'm a stubborn little bugger, and I only left for a week before I snuck back in and build __**The Den**__. An outlaw, living in the place he was banished from for 3 years and never getting caught. This took a large amount of skill in the end, considering everything. I'm the last of my family. I have no bloodline, only these styles and jutsu's. I have no special talent or skill. I just worked my butt off. I don't know you, but hopefully you will get to know me through my writing. For each page that you read about in my journal, read a page in one of my other books it may help in the learning process. So no matter who you are, good or evil. I hand my things off to you. You must work hard to receive my final gift tho. I have hidden a scroll, but inside my journal is a coded message. If you take the time to read and learn from my history then in time you should be able to decode it. Inside will be directions to the scroll. Take care. Try hard. Above all remember this:_

_Those who do not try, will never succeed. Those who take the easy way, who choose quick power over earned power, will die alone in life. Those who take what they want, through blood, sweat, tears, and through hard work. Those will be the ones to change anything and everything._

_All I ask now is that you destroy this letter._

_Hisomu, Takai_

Naruto's eyes watered. Takai Hisomu. This person he had never met. This person who didn't know him. Was giving him all this, as the knowledge, his whole history, just because he found this place. Just because he found The Den. No one. Never before had Naruto been give something by anyone other than Shakie-san. Gingerly he reached over and dropped the letter into the fire. Picking up the book again Naruto opened it to the first page. In all his joy, in this moment when he was the happiest he had ever been, Naruto didn't notice when his vision started to change. If he looked into a mirror or a pool of water at that moment, he would have seen that his eyes turned gold and slit like a cat's. Or a fox's. Never noticed the change he felt. It was gone a moment later.

_June 17_

_Father says I shouldn't need to keep a journal like this, Mother doesn't care. But I like the idea of writing every now and then. Anyway, I'm 18 right now. Figured one day when I die someone can read this to my family so they can know who their Dad or Grandpa was. Doesn't matter to me either way really, but it feels nice so far. My name is Takai. I'm from the Hisomu clan, we're not that big and we always move around so there's nothing special about me or my clan. Father has always said that the first Hisomu we're mercenary's, known for getting the job done. My clan has some pretty cool jutsu, but I can't learn any just yet. I've been working on nothing but chakra control for years now along with taijutsu and kenjutsu. Father says we need to have perfect control so we don't need any more than one hand sign. Father's pretty paranoid about people coping our jutsu. I don't see why tho, as all of our jutsu and genjutsu require Raion chakra. However, he promised this summer that we're going to stop and rest in Kumo for a while. Then he'll start teaching me. I get to sign the contract soon too. That will be great. That is all I have for now, don't know how soon I'll write again._

_Takai._

Naruto set the book down and reached over to the other three. He pulled them over and opened each to the first page, trying to decide the best way to go about learning. There was no names on these books, just a blank cover.

_First step to learning genjutsu is in control. Here are some exercises to sharpen your skill. Starting from the very basics of finding your chakra._

_Meditation. _

_The best way to find your chakra is to meditate. A quite place is best. Just sit there and search inside yourself for what feels like a moving river of power. Flowing through oneself like their own blood. Keep performing this until you can summon and or find your chakra at will. All the genjutsu, and the jutsu you will learn will require the use of Raion chakra._

Naruto cut off there, he didn't need to know anything besides that for now. He put the first book away, along with the jutsu one. He looked over taijutsu now.

_Deceiving Fist_

_The style of this form is based on instinct. It will have moves and combo's to show, but we focus on taking all the moves one learns and to put them together randomly. Doing things on instinct like our battle companions. When this style is mastered, the user will be able to change their attack in a moments notice. Leaving the enemy guessing. This style is bets used with a partner, but can be used to a lesser extent alone._

Naruto frowned and set aside the taijutsu book. Taking back the journal he flipped around until another letter fell out. Opening this one he read it eagerly.

_Well, I don't know if you've read my life completely yet, but here is the riddle I give you._

_The King of the Beast, ruler of the plains._

_Set upon a throne hidden by the falling flow._

_Unseen by all, because they do not look._

_The warriors in training keeping the treasure hunters at bay._

Naruto burned that letter too when he finished it. The worlds already burned into his memory. Taking his now cooked fish, Naruto began to think. He'd have to get stronger if he wanted to survive. This gave him a chance to do just that. He could take tips and such from the books and read Takai's journal every day. But he'd have to learn how to steal better. Naruto vowed at that moment that he'd learn everything, and one day he could live in a house. One day he could have a family, a home, have anything he had ever wanted. No matter what he had to do.

-*( 2 years later, October 2nd)*-

The dark night sky covered him from sight perfectly. Little hands fumbled with the lockpick in his hands. Naruto's first year alone had been a nightmare. He found that stealing in the day was only good for the venders. If he wanted anything else he needed to break in at night. At first he kept getting caught. Beaten and left for dead in alleys by the Konoha Police Force. But he was slowly getting better. There was a click. Opening the door, Naruto slid into the store silently, a burlap sack clutched in his hands. His second year was easier, and he made sure to not make the same mistakes of the first year twice.

He had been watching the clothes store for a few weeks. Every Thursday the owner closed early and got himself drunk before passing out. So, this Thursday Naruto was breaking in. The young boy's footsteps where unbelievably silent when he walked. He had learned fast that if you can hear your own footsteps, so could they. Which meant he got caught and beaten. Looking around he moved fast snatching what he needed.

His old clothes were getting tattered and worn, like everything else in his life. However this little trip would hopefully fix that. The owner was drop dead stone cold on the counter, a few bottles surrounding him. Naruto noticed that the rest of the bottles, the ones not rolling around on their sides, where either full or still had half the alcohol in them. Reaching over, he snatched the bottles up, taking only the full and sealed ones in his hands. He could use the alcohol to clean his cuts next time he got caught, and it would burn nicely should he need it to. The boy moved away from the drunken man.

He grabbed a few sets of clothes as fast as he could, five sets in total. Looking around, Naruto decided to grab a few accessories as well that he found, like a cloth mask and some hair bands. Naruto could never find someone to cut his hair, nor did he trust anyone to do it. So he left his hair grow in the back and shoved it into a low ponytail. But he always took one of his smaller knives and hacked away at the hair in front, keeping it short so he could see with ease.

The store he was in happened to be a ninja clothes shop. If it had been civilian, Naruto would have only watched for a week and been in and out much faster. The 8 year old boy felt no remorse for his thievery. If they treated him like dirt, he loved returning the favor. However he always left a single 5 yen coin in return at civilian places. If he ended up running low on coins he just took some more from the registers. For the ninja stores he always left two coins of the same amount.

After filling his bag, Naruto left the shop. Leaving behind the shop, he tied his bag to his old belt, and took his other bag, seeing as he always had two on him with a spare at home. He moved across the street and kept going for a bit until he found the grocery store. His other target for the night. Moving around back, he played with the lock on the back door and stepped inside. Naruto had quickly learned that if he stole meat, it couldn't sit around all that long, so he ate a lot of fruits and veggies instead. He could keep a few loafs of bread for about a week before he needed more. So the boy went about the for store, filling his sack with apples, oranges, tomatoes, bell peppers, and a lot more then he could name. Reaching the bread section, he took 3 of the days fresh loaves that the store offered. They were a bit stale from being left out in the open all day, but it was only the outside of the loaf, and even then the bread was rather soft on it's crust. The boy also snatched up 2 steaks from the meat section. He made sure they were the best type, and the ones with the most fat and meat on them. He could cook one up tonight and the other tomorrow, for his protein. He went hunting every day for his daily meat, but his catches were usually very small, as he couldn't get outside the village walls to hunt, and the ninja's scared away all the good prey on the training grounds. Well he did catch a good number of fish on the days he stopped by the occasional training ground river, they were all small and unappealing. Seemed ninja scared them away too. So every other week he took some steak from the stores to make up for it. Tossing his coin onto the check-out counter, Naruto left for home.

-*1 Hour Later*-

_August 21_

_Bleck, haven't written in forever. Works a drag as my Nara friend keeps putting it. After coming here to Konoha the new Hokage, who just took office not to mention I heard he's the brother of the previous Hokage, put me on a team with a guy named Kuma Nara. He's a lazy little freak but he knows what he's doing. The cocky son of a gun. I've meet a lot of pretty neat people since becoming a Konoha Ninja, but Kuma's by far my best friend. Real deep dude too. I swear, he says he doesn't want to marry a bossy women, but I've seen that his mom, his grandma, and every other women that married one of the Nara men is bossy and loud. Probably cause without bossy women the Nara men wouldn't do anything but sleep, and watch clouds. That, and there's this chick who I know likes him. They fight and taunt each other all the time. I swear, one day he's going to break down and make love to her right where they are at the moment. With an audience or not. The sexual tension is pretty thick. But hey, I've got it just as bad for this girl on my team. I swear she's a goddess, or a fallen angel. Her black hair reminds me of the nights when there is no moon, and her eyes. Oh heavens her eyes. I love her eyes the most, such a beautiful blue color. She has to be the kindest person alive, not to mention the wildest. She's an Inuzuka. Have to admit we didn't get along very well at first but I swear I'm going to make her mine. Make her mine and never let her go. I swear her skins so soft and her lips- I better stop right there or I may not get any sleep tonight. Sadly Inuzuka's take relationships really seriously. Her parents dated for 8 years before getting married. That girl's got twin older brothers, and I swear on my life they hate my guts. Well, it's ironic that besides Kuma the two are my best friends, but won't hesitate to skin me alive if I ouch their little sister. The jerks._

Naruto chewed on his meal slowly as he read the last few lines of the days passage, only partly paying attention to the continuing rambling Takai made about his twin friends. Takai wrote small passages in his journal, he also happened to have insanely small but very clearly written hand-writing, so there could be as many as four or five days on a single page. Naruto only read one passage a day, to prolong the amount he could read. Takai's journal was the most interesting thing in his life. He could only study the stances for the style Hisomu left him, as he didn't have a partner to work with. Naruto didn't practice that often. But when ever he had free time when he went to hunt near the training grounds, he could stop and practice his stances for hours. Correcting every little imperfection he could find and repeating it over and over so the form was burned into his mind.

Naruto didn't plan on going out again for the rest of the day, unless he needed to use the rest room. After eating the young boy cleared the area around him. So as he sat by the fire, Naruto had nothing around him but the dirt and a single fist sized stone. Settling into a meditation stance, Naruto began his normal process. Once again, just like every other time, Naruto didn't notice the changed feeling in his eyes.

Closing his eyes, the world became dark. Instead he began to feel around for the flow of his chakra. Finding it, he went deeper, until he came upon a large mass of it. The feeling of the chakra was hard, and rough like a stone. He poked around at it and prodded, but nothing came from his weak attempts. However that was normal for the boy. He could find his normal chakra with ease, and controlling it wasn't that hard. It came naturally to him whenever he practiced, but the large mass he found deeper in, pulsed within him. However, the boy soon forgot it as he began his work. That mass didn't seem to be even a fraction of his own chakra anyway.

Wisps of red chakra began to whisk around the boy slowly. Naruto was tempted to let it flare, but he controlled it and soon enough the wisps hardily stirred the dirt. Never the less, he began to play with it, focusing the chakra by the rock. He pushed more power into the area carefully, so the dust only stirred in that one spot. Naruto kept tweaking the power of his chakra so he could keep the rock hovering an inch above the ground.

Sweat dripped down the dirty blonde-haired boy's face, falling onto his dirt floor. Everyday he tried to get the rock higher. It was hard work, and it always drained him afterwards. It took him months to just find his chakra in the first place, but once he did it was only a month before he had gotten his control in line for the most part. However the child kept fine-tuning it, and had been fine tuning it for the better part of his second year alone.

-*(Somewhere in Konoha)*-

A bear painted masked head shot up as the man behind it sat perched on the roof. For a long time there had been the presence of a darker chakra around Konoha that prickled his skin. At first, back a year ago when it first started, the chakra blared around. Try as the Shinobi might, they could narrow the chakra down to a point before it vanished, and no matter how many hours where spend searching for the cause did any of them find it. Slowly but surely the blasts of chakra became less and less potent. Until only a few people like himself could feel it.

The masked Anbu looked around, but he knew it would be a lost cause to go seek it. Instead he kept to what he was previously doing, pointless patrols.

-*(Some time later, October 10th)*-

Naruto found himself preparing for a night away from his home. The risk of leaving The Den and being found was high. But he needed to get away from the sounds in the streets. Naruto hated his birthday. Having been taught threw beatings and abuse that the day of his birth was a curse to the world. The boy needed to do something, anything to get away even for just one night. So, he found himself dressing in some of the clothes he stole days before that he had not dressed in yet.

His clothes consisted of some slightly baggy dark blue jeans that he kept tied securely to his waist with rope which he always had just in case he needed some rope, a small white muscle shirt, and a loose dark autumn red hoodie. The ninja clothes shop he had been to was rather well stocked in more practical clothes, for genin and other things. Naruto knew that his clothes weren't the best for the night, it was all he was willing to wear. Should he get caught he didn't want any of his good thieving clothes to get ruined He also put on a black mask that covered the bottom half of his face and his nose, seeing as those whisker like scars of his were rather notice-able. Shoving a piece of bread he had cut from his remaining loaf, a small wedge of cheese and an apple all into the pouch like pocket in his hoodie, Naruto fled into the night and out of the safety in his home. The only thing he had to protect himself this night, was the small dagger he had found so long ago in his chest. It was held tightly in the 8 year olds hand. It wouldn't even help.

End of Chapter one. Writing this without a beta, but feel free to apply if you want to beta for me. Heaven knows I need it.

Enjoy, Review, Favorite, you know the works. It pleases me if you do it.

NOW! I am a NaruHina fan. So in turn that is the pairing for this fic. I have a strong dislike for the majority of characters so be prepped for some bashing in the near or far future. Ironic tho, because this is one of my favorite mangas. Funny how the world works.

**Shakie: My older brother**

**Shatei: My younger brother**

**Takai: Death**

**Hisomu: To be Hidden**

**Kuma: Bear**

This chapter has been changed, and as you can see Itachi has been taken out.


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